AN:My friend brought up the Gaia Halloween event, and I logged into the account I hadn't used in weeks (and sparcely for months before that). I didn't so much get into the event, but I adore Liam so I fell in love with the mini-comic.

I don't know if it's because of a different artist that drew this comic, but there's a great deal of talk about how different he looked. Once again, I took a simple concept and made it lame. :

Characters GaiaOnline

The best and worst thing about Gaia was that it was a small community. Everybody knew everyone else, for the most part; and that meant it wasn't all that hard to find cooperation when you needed help.

Unfortunately, it also meant that there was often one person you had to go to for a certain issue. So, if you broke it badly with someone, the chances were very good that you'd have to see them again.

Especially when that person was the leading authority on machinery.

Liam had stopped making house-calls only about a month before; blaming sagging sales because of time away, though everyone knew that wasn't the real reason. He probably didn't want to be bothered by his ex-girlfriends while he was working, though he wouldn't admit to that.

That meant that the ex-girlfriends had to drag themselves to him.

Vanessa made sure to select her most concealing shirt before heading off to Aekea. Her hair and makeup was as conservative as she was able to make it. But, considering all he was looking for was a girl, it might not be enough.

She took a deep breath before she took the machine out of the car and headed into Crate and Apparel.

There were playing cards scattered all over the countertop and the floor of the shop; surrounded what was essentially a giant, black rectangle. Liam had taken the front cover off, and had nearly his entire upper half inside as he worked.

"Liam?"

He jumped slightly, hit his head on some piece of machinery, and swore. He pulled his head out in time to have a playing card hit him in the face. He rubbed what must have been a lump under his hair.

"I wasn't expecting you for another hour," he said. He ducked back inside the box to keep working. "Did you close the shop early?"

"We always close early on Wednesday," she said, put the printer on the counter. She did her best to avoid everything cluttering it, though this wasn't an easy task.

She paused as he stood up. "You look… different."

He'd lost muscle, cut away his dyed tips, had donned a pair of glasses. He could pass for next to anyone, aside from who he actually was.

It took him a moment to realize exactly what she was talking about. As soon as he did, he removed the glasses and put them on the counter.

"It's called too much work and no free time," he told her with a shrug as opened the printer up.

"I didn't know you wore glasses," she said lightly.

"Yeah…" he said, almost embarrassed. "I'm supposed to wear them all the time, but I don't."

"You look better with them."

He paused and glanced over. "'Didn't think I'd hear that from you." He took one of his tools and began to work. "I thought you were still pissed at me."

"Do you think that I still think about that?" she asked.

"Yup," he grabbed a screw driver

"I don't think about you like you seem to think I do," she said flatly. "I just learned from my mistake."

"And yet you still check me out," he told her. "The ink flow's just too heavy?"

"No and yes," she said.

Liam pulled his brow down a bit as he kept working. "I've spent 4 straight hours working on an incredibly intricate AI; I really don't have the patience for…"

"No, I'm not checking you out and yes about the ink."

"Yes you do and alright, then," he told her, made a final adjustment and closed the machine up again. He made a test-print, and slid it back to her. "850 ought to cover it."

"You still think too much of yourself," she said, pulled out the gold and put it on the counter. "That's your problem."

He counted the money and put it into the register. "If I had the time, I'd take that into consideration." He motioned toward the back room door, "I have eight jobs lined up."

"So the women of Gaia are safe for a while?" she asked.

He sat back down in front of the black machine and set to work. "Keep acting so bitter and I'm not going to keep repairing the stuff you break." He moved inside it. "You're brutal to your machines, so I'd think you would lay off." He paused to grab his glasses off the counter. "And you're not as over me as you seem to think you are. That's your problem."

"So it seems we both have work to do," she said.

"I guess so."

She picked up the printer and head for the door. She had it nearly closed when she heard him say 'see you in a month or so.'

He was the same cocky bastard he'd always been, even if he didn't look it.

But, with the way her supplies broke down, he was probably right.

My friend brought up the Gaia Halloween event, and I logged into the account I hadn't used in weeks (and sparcely for months before that). I didn't so much get into the event, but I adore Liam so I fell in love with the mini-comic.

I don't know if it's because of a different artist that drew this comic, but there's a great deal of talk about how different he looked. Once again, I took a simple concept and made it lame. :

Characters GaiaOnline